People to See, Places to Go, Names to Sign

So how are things going? Well, we've begun our homestudy process.  This is a time of gathering information that shows that we are prepared to welcome another child. It is also a time of educating ourselves on the adoption process as well as the parenting of an adopted child.  There is a lot to do.  Things to read, fingerprints to be made, doctors exams to be completed and lots and lots of signatures to be made! We've been told that this process generally takes anywhere from 2-4 months.  But, I'm grateful for things to do that seem to be moving the process along.  As a part of this, we have started reading the book The Connected Child by Dr. Karyn Purvis.  So far, I have been very impressed with the book.  It seems to me to be a good read for any parent, but especially adoptive parents.  I also wish that I had read this book when I was teaching school as I think it would have given good insight when dealing with kids that came from tough places. 

In the meantime, it's been really neat to see the things that God already knew we'd be studying with the kids during this season.  We use the Sonlight curriculum for our Bible, history, read-alouds and language arts.  So far, this curriculum has had us to study an overview of Chinese culture, pray for Chinese people and we are now reading a chapter book called Little Pear, which is about a young boy growing up in China.  Later this year, we'll also read a book called The Great Wall.  :) Also, in our homeschool co-op they read The Story about Ping, which is set in China.  While reading this book, they were able to experiment with chopsticks, try Chinese food and locate China and the Yangtze River on a map.  How neat that God already knew the path that we would be on and that our children would benefit from learning these particular things at this particular time! We chose this curriculum about 6 months before we made the decision to adopt from China! God has also placed people in our path who have recently gone through this journey and have already been a big help to us!

The kids' seem to be thinking more about what we're doing.  In fact, the other day the big boy and I were reading on the couch and he was holding a ball cap in his hand when he said excitedly, "Mama! This hat is made in China!"  I smiled and said, "Yeah!"  He then said that he wanted to wear it when we went to China and maybe the person who made it would still be there in China and would see him wearing it. ;) I agreed that maybe, just maybe that would happen.  Lol! 

The Beginning

I was unsure how to start this first post.  I've never written a blog before and I've gone back and forth about where to begin.  I originally started writing a post that began with this picture of me and all my babies, big babies, little babies, cloth babies, vinyl babies, brown babies, blue babies, white babies, babies with yarn hair, babies with ratty synthetic hair :).  My love for babies....but the story was deeper than that. 

That story that I began writing drug on and on and really it only told the story about Jim and me.  That's not the story that we wanted to tell.

We wanted to tell you a simple story - one that God begun long ago.  One that begins like this, "Today, Jim and I submitted our application to adopt a baby from China...". :)

"I find China!"

This is the beginning, the beginning of a process that will probably take anywhere from a year to 18 months, the beginning of a lot of ups and downs, the beginning of a new normal, the beginning of a new season of difficult coupled with wonderful, the beginning of trying to lay our lives down in a whole new way,  the beginning of a new dependence on God, the beginning of new blessings and the beginning of a new reason for us to call on His name. 

Our blessings and our current reasons to call on His name. ;)

We plan to update our progress on this blog.  You can follow along if you'd like. :) We would ask that as we begin this process that you would remember us in your prayers.  We are excited to have a front row seat in watching God do what He does best - redeem.

"Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3